It happened again... the summer days flew by, the girls went another grade higher, and this time I have two school schedules and drop-off/pick-up times to figure out.

The middle schooler now has uniforms (silent "Yay!" from Mom) and I knew enough to get my photo before even getting into the car. She's got a crazy schedule, it rotates daily and I couldn't begin to figure out where she's supposed to be when, but hopefully she'll have no problem remembering by next week.

I still made my traditional gifts for all of Jessica's previous teachers (who happen to be Rebecca's previous teachers, too).

I pretty much followed the Mini Backpack Tutorial from the wonderful Inking Idaho (left sidebar under free tutorials, it's in 4 parts so I didn't link directly). I filled it with Ghirardelli chocolate squares, and a heartfelt note to each teacher.

Vacation is officially over, and I start back at work tomorrow. Looking forward to a good school year and hectic, tiring but exciting days ahead.

We've been enjoying every moment of summer. Mostly out and about, traveling, swimming, scootering in the park. But once in a while we'll just stay home and pull out the crafts.

Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Party Origami by Jessica Okui of Zakka Life, and the girls and I had a fun time checking it out and making some of our first origami projects ever. Now that they are a bit older, and are more precise with their folds, it's a lot more fun and everything they attempted was successful. One of these bird placecard holders was made by me, one by my 8 year old, as her first origami project ever, I think. Can't really tell which is whose, can you? Honestly, I don't even remember.

The book is in a cute little format, perfect as a gift because it includes the beautiful two-sided paper and is basically a little kit. There is a *lot* of paper, 75 sheets, which is important for people like me who tend to hoard the "good stuff." In this case, I don't really have to worry, because there is plenty to go around. Good diagrams, simple. It could have the potential to get someone started on a paper folding kick...

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up here. Let's just say summer is in full swing, and we have been enjoying every single jam-packed moment.

We've been hiking in the desert, swimming at pool parties, making strikes and spares at the bowling alley, and caring for our school garden since classes got out in May.

And when we just need to catch our breaths, in our quiet moments we're tackling embroidery. I signed up for the Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club, thinking that maybe it was something the girls and I could work on together this year, and it's been a huge hit.

The purple is Rebecca's and the aquamarine is Jessie's.

Love this picture of them. Don't know why they're squeezed together so tight, but it's cute!

I made a little gift for someone special at the school last month. Literally, little. It was just under 4" tall.

It's hand stitched, and the pattern is in the book Lovable Mini-Dolls. I picked it up ages ago, when I first started blogging and there was the whole Japanese pattern book obsession. I'm so glad I got this one, I can't remember how much I paid for it but all the patterns are really cute and pretty simple.

A few weeks ago, Rebecca's pen pal from our sister school in China came to visit. She brought some cute little gifts, and Rebecca wanted to give her something in return.

She asked me to make a patriotic bracelet, and this is what I came up with. I had a little (really little) pattern I was going to post, but now it's been so long and I can't exactly remember what I did. I do know I started with a foundation single crochet, and the whole thing just took a few minutes.

Quick and easy, now living half a globe away. Hope it reminds her pen pal to write!

I've needed new glasses for well over two years now, ever since I broke two pairs of clip on sunglasses when Jessie was in Kindergarten. Yeah. That was a long time ago. Well, I finally got a new pair last year from Firmoo.com. It was totally weird, because I'd been looking at Costco for awhile, but they didn't carry any frames that came with clip-on or magnetic sunglasses. And I *have* to have those, because I hate switching back and forth from prescription glasses. I always feel slightly woozy and end up getting dizzy or headachy. And in So Cal, you really need your sunglasses almost every day. I was getting major frown lines from constantly squinting in the sun. Makes it tough to drive.

When Firmoo sent me an email asking whether or not I'd like to try a completely free pair of glasses in exchange for an honest blog post, I jumped at the chance. The whole experience was simple and trouble-free. I even asked a question online and got a response within 24 hours. Pretty cool. Ordering was easy, you just plug in the information from your doctor's prescription, and sit back and wait. You can even upload a photo of yourself so you can "try on" any of the frame styles they have (though I was too lazy to do that, of course). I thought the order took a while to arrive, I think it took about two weeks. Which, actually, when I think about it, really isn't very long at all, is it? I don't know why it seemed like a long time to me, maybe I was too excited to get them.

Anyway, the glasses arrived in perfect condition, and the prescription is just right. I only had to get used to the initial wooziness from wearing new glasses, but unfortunately, that just can't be helped.

I love that my new glasses came in a nice hard case, with a soft lens cloth and this wonderful mini screwdriver on a keychain. They also included a pair of extra nose thingys and four additional screws. Because those little guys are totally impossible to find if you lose one.

Okay, hope you didn't mind the mini commercial broadcast, I just thought the whole experience was very nice, and free is always good in my book! Even if I did have to pay for shipping (which I didn't), it would have been so much better than the $100+ I was going to have to pay for a new pair of glasses, let alone a pair that included clip-ons.

The next post will be crafty, I swear. I've made some small things and just need to take photos. Funny, I'm writing about needing sunglasses when it's actually supposed to be grey and rainy all weekend long!

The weather here in Southern California is totally schizophrenic. Last week when I was driving to work, it was 36 degrees. We don't turn on the heater at home because of bloody noses and stuffiness, but it was about 55 every morning when we woke up, which is just too chilly! Rebecca asked me to make her a cowl, so I started after Christmas.

I finished it up yesterday morning, and the temperature was 80. Seriously. Today it's supposed to be 81. Absolutely insane. Rebecca chose the color and the yarn, and I modified the pattern from this one on Ravelry. My details are here.

It's really hard to take a picture of black knitting, but the texture is nice, and Rebecca likes it. The length is just perfect to double it up once for warmth.

So then, of course since it was 80ish, I finally started my other project, making handwarmers for me and my co-workers. I work in a book warehouse, and when I get there at 8 in the morning it is usually about 38 or 39 degrees. Regardless of the weather outside during the day, it rarely reaches even 50 by the time I leave in the afternoon. So I took the girls' toddler socks, the ones that lost their matches and that I knew I'd been saving for a reason, and turned them into handwarmers. I cut off the foot, turned the cuff inside out, sewed up the cut end, flipped them back right side out, filled them with feed corn I bought from a store I'd been driving past for years and years, and stitched the other end closed. 45 seconds in the microwave, and the little 3.5" square things actually retain heat for about half an hour.

I made little flannel covers for a few of them out of scraps leftover from making baby quilts so they can be taken off and washed, and the girls love them. I think we can put them in the freezer and use them as ice packs, too, which might be more appropriate for the next few days? But I'm going to make lots more for my coworkers, because we'll definitely need them to keep our fingers moving for at least another month or two. I'm trying to experiment with different ways to make them stay toasty for longer than just 30 minutes, like maybe packing more corn in muslin (less stretchy) bags? A little bit more work, but if it helps to retain the heat longer, it would be worth it.

I was going to title this post "don't let the door hit you on the way out," but didn't want to broadcast such negativity and bad vibes. Truthfully, I can't wait to see the back end of 2012. This has probably been the worst year of my life, starting on January 1st and ending with the loss of my grandfather the week before Thanksgiving. I'm so ready to kick 2012 out the door, and usher in a new year of better things.

These last two weeks have been great, though. The girls and I managed to fight off colds, we played many games, baked, crafted, snuggled, discovered Pound Puppies. Woke up really late, ate a lot of sweets, spent a lot of time together.

I even managed to keep up with the advent calendar this year, and did some crafting.

I didn't have time to take photos of everything, but I made Oreo elf shoes for all the girls' teachers (past and present), and crocheted 35 of these snowflake necklaces just in the nick of time for Rebecca's class. It was all a bit stressful, because I was working like a madwoman at my paid job up until December 20th, but I am glad that I got at least some of the crafty stuff done that I'd planned. I'd wanted to decorate the teachers' lounge and give them milk and freshly baked cookies every day for the last week before winter break, but I just had to give up that idea or go 100% insane and turn into a crazed maniac. I'm sure everyone is happy with the decision I made.

Tonight is going to be mellow. We're going to have the newlyweds over for dinner, put together a Lego camper van, play some games, and ring in the new year with sweets, snacks and sparkling cider. Tomorrow will bring a dim sum brunch with the in-laws, and hopefully the start of a promising, healthy, joyful new year.

It's one of those little blankets with the stuffed animal parts attached, for the kiddo to drag around with her when she gets a bit older. There are a few translated patterns and wonderful inspiration from Brittas Ami. I love how it turned out.